1. The Field of the Invention
The present invention relates to a cooling structure for an oven door of a microwave oven usable as a pizza oven, and, more particularly, a cooling structure for an oven door of a microwave oven usable as a pizza oven, which includes first air inlet perforations formed through a portion of the partition wall contacting one side section of the oven door, second air inlet perforations formed through the side section of the oven door, and air outlet perforations formed through the other side and top sections of the oven door, so that the cooling structure can rapidly cool the oven door by ambient air supplied through a cooling fan, and thus, can prevent the user from burning his hands when opening the oven door.
2. The Relevant Technology
A microwave oven usable as a pizza oven is well known. Such a microwave oven is a complex appliance capable of cooking both the general food and the pizza. Referring to FIG. 4, a conventional microwave oven usable as a pizza oven is illustrated. As shown in FIG. 4, the conventional microwave oven, which is designated by reference numeral 100, includes an oven body defined with a cooking chamber 102 to cook food and an electric device installation chamber 104 partitioned by a partition wall 101. A cooling fan 105 is installed in the electric device installation chamber 104. A pizza cooking chamber 106 is defined in a desired portion of the cooking chamber 102, for example, an upper portion of the cooking chamber 102 as in the illustrated case. Air inlet holes 107 are formed through a portion of the partition wall 101 facing the pizza cooking chamber 106. Air outlet holes 108 are formed through an upper wall of the oven body defining the top of the pizza cooking chamber 106. Upper and lower heaters 112 and 114 are fixedly mounted to the top and bottom of the pizza cooking chamber 106 in the interior of the pizza cooking chamber 106, respectively. An oven door 110 is mounted to the oven body at the front side of the pizza cooking chamber 106 to open/close the pizza cooking chamber 106. A pizza pan 120, on which a pizza to be cooked will be laid, is positioned on the lower heater 114. The upper and lower heaters 112 and 114 are electrically connected to a control panel 109 mounted to a front wall of the oven body so that the upper and lower heaters 112 and 114 can be controlled in accordance with operation of the control panel 109.
When it is desired to cook a pizza in the microwave oven 100 having the above-mentioned configuration to be also usable as a pizza oven, the user operates the operating panel 109 to operate the upper and lower heaters 112 and 114 mounted in the pizza cooking chamber 106, and thus, to heat the pizza cooking chamber 106 to a temperature optimal for the cooking of the pizza. Thereafter, the user opens the oven door 110, lays the pizza on the pizza pan 120 positioned on the lower heater 114, and closes the oven door 110. Thus, the cooking of the pizza is carried out.
After completion of the pizza cooking operation, it is necessary to cool the pizza cooking chamber 106 heated during the pizza cooking operation. This cooling operation is carried out as follows. That is, when the user operates the operating panel 109 to cool the pizza cooking chamber 106, the cooling fan 105 is operated, thereby causing ambient air to be sucked into the interior of the electric device installation chamber 104 through the cooking fan 105. The air sucked into the electric device installation chamber 104 is then introduced into the pizza cooking chamber 106 through the air inlet holes 107, and then is exhausted through the air outlet holes 108 while cooling the heated interior of the pizza cooking chamber 106. As this cooling procedure is repeatedly carried out, the pizza cooking chamber 106 is cooled.
However, although the pizza cooking chamber heated during the pizza cooking operation is cooled by the ambient air in accordance with the above-mentioned cooling procedure, the oven door heated by heat transferred thereto from the upper and lower heaters is ineffectively cooled. For this reason, the conventional microwave oven has a problem in that the user may burn his hands when touching the oven door or opening the oven door.